Rick Carlisle’s final season with Pacers looked exactly like the previous two. Injuries, arguing, trades, and constant fight with Atlanta for the title of the worst offensive team in the NBA.

Offseason

Draft

No picksKey Trades

Acquired: Travis Diener, Careem Rush, Steven Graham.Diener spent two seasons at Orlando where he was trying to back up Nelson, unsuccessfully. This year he’ll spend in Indiana trying to back up Tinsley, probably unsuccessfully as well. Careem Rush, who managed to play for several teams, will not be a strong addition to the squad. 15 minutes per game is his max. As far as Graham is concerned, Indy could’ve used his brother, who’s currently with Raptors, but not Steven.Left: Baston, Green, Armstrong. Not much here.Offseason grade: C

Season 2007/2008

Team’s problem begin at PG where Indiana has Jamaal Tinsley who’s occupied the position for the past few years. This is his spot even though he was quite inconsistent, especially in limited offense. Hopefully with O’Brien’s more open system he can actually become the player everyone saw a few years ago. The team also has no backup for him. Daniels could help with some ball-handling, but he’s not a PG. Danleavy, Daniels, and Rush are primary snipers and it’s not much at all.SF is one of the brighter spots on the team. Danny Granger is a solid player, sort of jack of all trades. He can rebound, block shots, and score a timely 3-pointer. He reminds me of Josh Howard from Mavericks but the question remains whether Granger can reach that level of play.O’Neal. His main issue from the past two-three seasons is that he’s forced to play closer to the basket. With his speed, one-on-one moves, and mid-range shot he should be playing the role that Tim Duncan plays for the past 10 years. Center playing a 4 and using height and weight advantage to the fullest extent. Popovich noticed it right away (it was difficult not to notice having Duncan playing alongside Robinson) and after that always had 1-2 average centers (Mohammed, Oberto, Nesterovic). While O’Neal had Foster and Pollard, who only played under the basket, O’Neal was quite dangerous. But since he started playing more with Harrington/Murphy and less with Foster, he looks worse, gets injured more often, and not nearly as effective. Who could potentially pair up with O’Neal upfront? Diogu, who was a highly touted talent a couple of years ago and got lost in NBA. Bigs usually take
longer to develop and start playing up to their potential after they turn 25. Is that the case with Diogu? Indiana still has Foster and David Harrison who while not getting much playing time for Carlisle, was still one of the fans favorites.

Note of importance

Jermaine O’Neal. Always unhappy. He doesn’t like NBA dress code and thinks that Stern is discriminating against African-American players. Usually he sees his future with Indiana, but sometimes with Lakers. However, the next day he is saying that Indiana’s the place he wants to be. But who is he unhappy with? Maybe himself, who was left without the likes of Artest, Stojakovic, Harrington, and even Stephen Jackson?Jermaine has MVP-caliber talent – he’s very well balanced forward/center, who is highly effective on offense as well as defense. NBA lacks this type of a player (Duncan, KG, and to a lesser extent Yao). He is strong under the basket and has no problem attacking from the mid-range.Jeff Foster. He is mainly a rebounding specialist. Teams love to have a player of his type on the roster. He is tall and he can jump, but his main contribution is rebounding. He can outrebound anyone, even a player much taller than him. Even a player who is faster and can jump higher. It looks as if he just attracts the ball, kind of like a magnet. He reminds me quite a bit of Rodman.

Bottom Line

We’re so used to Indiana’s failures that the optimistic forecast (O’Neal and Tinsley play entire season without getting injured, Dunleavy and Murphy hit their shots and Granger becomes the most improved player) is very hard to believe. The offense should get better under the tutelage of O’Brien, but playoffs are probably still a long shot.